The silence was dying.
Selena pressed her palms against her temples as the sound invaded her mind not truly sound, but something deeper, more primal than hearing. It was the Gate's hunger, a gnawing emptiness that devoured everything in its path, including the sacred silence that had defined the Pale Legion for millennia. Around her, the Legion's warriors stood motionless in their bone-white armor, but she could see the cracks spreading across their forms like spider webs of shadow.
"They're breaking," she whispered, her voice barely audible above the rising chaos.
The Pale Legion had been the first line of defense against the Gate's influence, their sworn silence a barrier against the whispers that sought to corrupt all who heard them. But now that barrier was crumbling, eaten away by something far more insidious than mere sound. The Gate wasn't just calling to them it was consuming their very essence, their dedication, their purpose.
